The third season of California Pintos and Lady Pintos wrestling kicked off Nov. 30 when they hosted Holden, South Callaway, and Tipton at the California Quad. It was a day California wrestling and their fans had long been waiting for, especially Head Coach John Heimann, who was coaching in his first-ever meet as California's head coach.
In their first match against Holden, the Lady Pintos were defeated by the Lady Eagles 36-18, and the Pintos were defeated by the Eagles 39-36 in a match that came down to the faceoff. However, both teams recovered in their second match against South Callaway. The Lady Pintos tied the Lady Bulldogs 18-18 and the Pintos dominated the Bulldogs 55-12.
In their final match of the night against the Tipton Cardinals and Lady Cardinals, California took on the role of underdogs after Tipton won their first two matches. The Lady Pintos fell short to Tipton 24-12. However, the Pintos defined the early-season odds and won the match 60-24, with the help of five wins by pin downs.
After their good start to the season on Nov. 30, the Pintos went on to finish seventh place as a team Saturday at the Knob Noster Tournament. California had five medalists and two sixth-place finishers in Knob Noster. Junior Kwynnon Duvall won the 165 lbs. division, while freshman Tristan Balsley and sophomore Patrick Morrow won second place in the 120 lbs. and 138 lbs. weight classes respectively.
The Pintos and Lady Pintos will compete in Warsaw this week. The Lady Pintos will wrestle at 5 p.m. Wednesday, with the Pintos wrestling at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.